Aerated Wastewater Treatment System Servicing

All Aerated Wastewater treatment systems (ATWS) require regular servicing (every 3 months) to ensure that the system is working efficiently and the effluent quality consistently meets the standards set by regulating authorities. To ensure that owners meet their legal requirements and in the interest of environmental health and safety, it is a high priority that regular Civcon service customers are attended to on time. For worry-free maintenance of any ATWS, we recommend a yearly service contract. This contract saves you money and locks your system into our rigorous servicing schedule

Two complete a service on a domestic AWTS we expect the service to take a minimum of 20 minutes, average time is approximately 30 mins, without any major problems. Our servicemen are service orientated, not dollar driven, quality of service is very important to us.

In order to comply with Occupational Health and Safety Legislation we need to provide a safe working environment for our service technicians. To avoid extra cost preparing a site to a standard to perform the service, or refusal of service entirely, all you need to do is ensure that the area around the system is maintained.

DO

• Keep access clear
• Think about the safety of our workers
• Think about the environment
• Trim trees/bushes to enable access

DON'T

• Build over or too close to the system
• Plant trees close
• Let grass grow over
• Place large pot plants on system

Examples of overgrown systems

When Civcon come to your property to service an AWTS, they firstly will knock on the door to make you aware that they are on your property. The service technician will then go to the system and start the service, our service consists of over 30 items of inspection and reporting. Any defective items or parts required to keep your system operating effectively will be replaced, if the items are larger dollar items, such as a pump, we will make every endeavour possible to contact you, before fitting the item. Our service technicians will also let you know if there is something that you as a home owner can do to keep your system operating efficiently, such as recommended products, do and don'ts etc. On completion of the service the serviceman will fill out the service report sheet and leave it with you, or if no one is home, he will leave the report and invoice in the letterbox.

Civcon service most of the brands of AWTS including: Ultra Clear, Garden Master, Earthsafe, Envirocycle, Aqua Nova, Biocycle, Biotreat, Econocycle, Taylex & Bioseptic.

Subsurface Irrigation

Water restrictions and issues of water re-use are becoming increasingly important to most Australians. As our summers appear to be getting longer and drier, and the grass turns a deeper shade of brown, we are all looking to find new and different ways to be smarter with our water usage.

More specifically, the topic of wastewater has received considerable attention with a lot of time and technology committed to treatment process that can chemically or physically disinfect the water body. However, for those who live outside traditional metropolitan sewage networks and rely on smaller aerated treatment plants, this final stage of disinfection has always had its complications and costs. Final redistribution methods such as surface spray irrigation, release effluent to the surface; this in turn is open to environmental conditions such as wind drift and runoff.

Most councils are now well aware of the benefits of subsurface irrigation, being that there is no contact with treated effluent for humans, animals etc. This in turn has become the preferred method of disposal for most local governing authories. With little chance of litigation due to someone becoming ill from contact with treated effluent via subsurface, the councils see subsurface irrigation as the way of the future.

By moving the disposal underground, post disinfection, a subsurface irrigation system will deal with secondary treated effluent, dispersing it evenly under the surface. As it is being delivered to the most biologically active layer of the soil, the soil its self will consume any residual bacteria or organic matter, vegetation such as grass will absorb the nutrients. Grass needs to be kept short and well maintained, to allow good air flow and sunlight to take up the moisture. Irrigation area’s of greater than 250 - 300 lineal metres of subsurface drip line, are generally split into equal size zones. These zones inturn are controlled automatically via a water indexing valve, these valves distribute the treated effluent to a different zone each time the pump turns on.

The effluent is distributed through a grid of polyethylene drip line buried 100 – 150mm below ground, with lateral lines spaced at between 0.6 - 1.0m apart, depending on soil quality. The water source is connected to the irrigation lines and pumped through a mesh filter into the drip lines, where pre-inserted emitters can disperse it evenly through the network. This steady diffusion of the water means that there should be no run-off or ponding that could result in direct human contact or contamination of water ways.

The soil type and site conditions, land application size, will all be taken into consideration when sizing a wastewater disposal field. In the past when choosing a wastewater treatment system, the irrigation area was almost forgotten, “just put a hose on the system with a couple of sprays, she’ll be right”. Now these days the irrigation disposal area is treated as important if not more important then the treatment system, due to public health issues.

With the entire system buried underground, the possibility of physical damage from lawn mowers, children or animals is greatly reduced.
The system can be tailored for small, odd-shaped blocks right up to large fields. And with the wastewater expended under the drip irrigation occurring underground there is no restriction in watering times, even if the surface is being used.

Wasteflow

One of the key features of the Wasteflow® system however is its patented Rootguard® technology. The plastic drip emitters are impregnated with the herbicide Treflan®, which is released in gentle, steady manner to keep the roots 2-3cm away and ultimately keep the flow clear. Wasteflow® also features an anti-bacterial lining on the inside of the entire drip line length. This reduces adhesion of bacterial slimes and algae on the inside walls of the drip line tube. With both the Rootguard® technology and the anti-bacterial lining you have uninterrupted flow. Rootguard® has a ten year warranty against root intrusion. Wasteflow conforms to international standards black poly pipe and Lilac strip, being the colour code for wastewater.

Netafim

Some of the features of Netafim™’s UniBioline CNL pressure compensating drip line are;
•   TurboNet™ labyrinth assures wide water passage
•   Pressure compensation – all drippers deliver equal flow, even on sloped terrain.
•   Anti-siphon (AS) & self-flushing systems prevent dirt penetration and improve clog resistance.
•   Anti-drain (CNL) for efficient pulse irrigation, prevents water drainage and reduces run-off.

UniBioline requires a Techfilter to be installed and relaced every 18 -24 months depending on usage. Trifluralin is incorporated into the replaceable disc ring assemblies inside the filter housing. When water passes through the filter, a very low concentration of Trifluralin is transmitted through the system. This effectively inhibits root growth into dripper outlets.